Be a Social Studies Advocate

What can you do now?

Visit your U.S. House of Representative and State Senators during their district or state “home work periods “and reinforce the NCSS ESEA reauthorization message, view detailed information on NCSS key advocacy points and tips on scheduling your appointments below, and illustrate with your own personal examples.

In Summary, NCSS ESEA reauthorization recommendations are:

-Current ESEA law be revised to explicitly state in its basic program requirements that each of the core disciplines: English/Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies (civics, economics, geography and history) are key to a well-rounded education.

-ESEA recognize that proficiency in each of these subjects is needed for US students to be prepared for college, career, and citizenship in the complex and globally interdependent world.

-The narrowing of the curriculum and the civic achievement gap be addressed by including provisions for social studies assessment and professional development in the reauthorization of ESEA that require states to outline plans to address social studies as key to the K-12 curriculum, as well as plans to invest some portion of their professional development funds in social studies educators.

-New accountability rubrics in the law are as inclusive of the “multiple measures” approach considered in draft legislation in 2007 and move toward the use of growth models.

-Any revision or consolidation of the structure of ESEA Title II programs (i.e. Teaching American History Grants, Academies for American History and Civics, National History Day, Close-Up Fellowships, Excellence in Economic Education, etc.) results in an increase in resources for front-line social studies teachers.

-At least $2.00 per student, or $100 million per year invested in civic education, as an important first step in restoring the civic mission of our schools.

-The structure and plans of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) be modified such that social studies be a component of the two-year testing cycle that reading and mathematics are

-NAEP history, civics, geography, and economics, be conducted, one each year, such that each discipline area would be tested every four years with a sample size large enough to yield disaggregated data.

Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools

National Council for the Social Studies is pleased to be part of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools--a coalition of 40 organizations committed to improving the quality and quantity of civic learning in American schools. The Campaign's goal is to increase and improve civic learning in grades K-12 by working for policies that implement the recommendations of the Civic Mission of Schools report.